Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 4th Quarter 2023
Statistics based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies carried out by the Scottish Government and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is a snapshot of employment as at December 2023.
Public and Private Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount
Public sector employment in Scotland increased by 10,520 (1.8%) between December 2022 and December 2023. This increase in public sector employment is mainly due to an increase in the devolved public sector.
The public sector is defined according to the UK National Accounts Classifications Guide
Figure 1: Public sector employment in Scotland has increased over the year and accounts for just over one fifth of total employment
Public and Private[1] Sector employment (Headcount) in Scotland as at December 2023
Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 4 2023
Figure 2: Public Sector employment in Scotland has been gradually increasing since 2018
Public Sector employment and estimated public sector employment (excluding major reclassifications) in Scotland, June 1999 to December 2023, non-seasonally adjusted
Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 4 2023
Figure 2 shows that the number of people employed in the public sector remained relatively constant between Q1 2014 and Q2 2018, before falling in Q3 2018 and rising again from Q4 2018 onwards. Excluding the effects of major reclassifications[2] (i.e. taking out the headcounts for all large organisations listed in footnote [2] from the overall numbers), the number of people employed in the public sector gradually reached a peak in Q2 2006, decreased until Q3 2013 and remained relatively constant until Q3 2018. The increase between Q3 2018 and Q4 2018 is mainly due to Cordia services moving back under Glasgow City Council services. Since Q4 2018, the series has typically been increasing over time. In Q3 2018, Social Security Scotland was added to the public sector series and has grown in size over time partly contributing to the increase.
Figure 3 shows the annual change in employment for the public sector. Employment increased by 10,520 (1.8%) between December 2022 and December 2023. The increase is mostly due to increases in the NHS and Local Government employment in the Devolved Public Sector.
Figure 3: Public Sector employment in Scotland increased over the year
Annual change in Public Sector employment (Headcount) in Scotland
Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 4, 2023
Impact of Excluding Major Reclassifications from Public Sector
If the major reclassifications[2] were to be excluded from the public sector series (i.e. the headcounts for all large organisations listed in footnote [2] were taken out of the overall numbers), there would be around 585,000 people employed in the public sector as at December 2023.
Public sector employment, excluding the effects of the major reclassifications, would be around 10,000 (1.7%) higher in December 2023 compared with December 2022. The increase when major reclassifications are included is higher (10,520), showing that reclassifications are playing a small role in the increase over the year.
[1] Estimates for private sector employment are based on non-seasonally adjusted total employment estimates from the ONS Labour Force Survey and public sector employment figures.
[2] Major reserved reclassifications include Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Lloyds Banking Group plc, Northern Rock plc, Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance, Scottish Widows, Direct Line, Royal Mail Group plc, (known as the Post Office Ltd (until Q2 2006) and Network Rail. Devolved reclassifications include Registered Social Landlords, with Train Operating Companies split across Reserved and Devolved responsibility.
Contact
Email: LMStats@gov.scot
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